I am looking for software that can read the raw data from my cameras (a Cannon a

Question

I am looking for software that can read the raw data from my cameras (a Cannon and a Nikon.) and where I can adjust the different color channels, hue and saturation etc. before transporting the raw to a common format (i.e TIF).

As I don't have that strong of a machine currently the requirements (RAM, CPU etc.) should be given in the answer.

I consider purchasing a Sony S5 Pro as well and with the specific matrix on the chip there I would prefer to know if the recommended software supports that as well.

Explanation / Answer

I recommend Lightzone. They require registration before downloads, which is absurd. If you want to, you can avoid this by cloning and compiling from github repository.

Use case: photo manipulation, including color channels, hue, saturation, brightness, white balance, contrast etc. It is not Photoshop replacement. On commercial (and non-linux) side, feature set is comparable to Lightroom or Aperture.

Memory: on my computer, even with larger folders, 1GB of memory (for Lightzone, excluding OS and other programs) seems to be enough. I have Nikon D700, so my RAW images are approximately 25MB - I guess size/resolution of the original images affect memory requirements quite heavily.

Processor: more is better. As Lightzone is implemented with Java, it's not lightweight. I have 3GHz Intel i7, but it is a bit sluggish from time to time (this is highly subjective, though).

Compatibility: earlier I had problems with white balance on D80, but that is fixed already. I don't know about other RAW formats, but there's database available.

Usability: getting started takes some time, as everything is on toolbars, and some icons are non-intuitive. Additionally, some functionality - for example, exporting RAW files to TIFF - is a bit non-intuitive, but is still available.

File formats: supports exporting (converting) to JPEG and TIFF. Similarly, opens RAW, JPEG and TIFF files.

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